DIYautoFTW: An automotive knowledge repository

The internet has revolutionized the process of learning and gathering knowledge. Automotive enthusiasts enjoy working on their cars. Also, low-cost DIY repairs help save a few bucks as service costs can sometimes be a pain, especially if one happens to own a E46 BMW M3 or an old Porsche. Nowadays, with the internet and countless number of forums and websites around DIY jobs have become a lot easier. That said, it involves hours of research where most of the information is unorganized and at times, contradicting.

I would highly recommend everyone to checkout DIYautoFTW.com for quick, easy and intuitive DIY tutorials. It is the brainchild of Steven Balistreri, an automotive engineer and aficionado, who in his carreer has worked on various high-level projects. Recently, he was assigned the job of lead NVH engineer for the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray C7’s axle . The website is quite rightly an “automotive knowledge repository”- an encyclopedia of all major automotive brands complete with tutorials, images, service manual, etc.

The extensive information available on the website has been collated over a span of 3 years. The articles and DIY help have been donated by those who have actually worked on the specific models. Each job has been explained in details and is easy to understand. The large collection of images that accompany every DIY task make it even more intuitive for the reader.

DIYautoFTW.com is now on Kickstarter and needs your support. Please share this story and help spread the word.

Press Release

Automotive Engineer Changing How Gearheads Work on Cars Steve Balistreri is building a depository of all automotive knowledge

Detroit MI – DIYautoFTW.com launches their crowd funding campaign on 6/8/2014 to help complete their massive library project. For the past three years automotive engineer and car enthusiast Steve Balistreri has been building an online “repository of automotive knowledge”. Frustrated by the difficulty in finding specific information from a vast and fractured landscape of enthusiast websites he started DIYautoFTW.com, a community built library where accurate information can be found on any vehicle quickly and easily. With help from hundreds of gear heads, over 1000 DIY and build articles have been donated. Their Kickstarter campaign will raise funds for a site re-design and to hire a full time employee to build and curate the library.

Although there are thousands of automotive related sites and forums catering toward any interest, users have difficulty finding specific information when they need it. “Often people will look online for a DIY or specific piece of data before working on their car. It is frustrating spending the first 20 minutes of your wrenching time clicking through multiple sites and sifting through conflicting information. With DIYautoFTW you’ll be able to find it all within three clicks of the homepage.” says Steve. Most automotive sites are built for sharing news and fostering discussion not information storage and retrieval. DIYautoFTW takes author donated articles such as DIYs, build threads, car reviews, etc, and organizes and preserves them on vehicle pages with data tables, wiring diagrams, owners manuals and vintage advertisements.

Steve has worked on many projects during his 10 years in the automotive industry, including being the lead NVH engineer for the C7 Corvette axle. “I learned that no matter how good your data and procedures are, they won’t help you if you can’t find them when you need them.” He found the same issues when working on his cars at home and heard that many other enthusiasts felt the same way. After three years of doing research and building the site it is now having its public unveiling through its crowd funding campaign. “For such a massive undertaking this needs to be more than a volunteer effort. The money raised will allow us to improve the site and build it exponentially quicker than the current rate.” The goal for the site is to be the best library for automotive information online and to be a positive member of the auto enthusiast community.